People who are interested in eating and health, including home cooked meals and school lunches. A person who is cooperative and can communicate with others while also clearly expressing his/her own opinions.

Nutritionists work primarily with healthy people, either individually or in groups, calculating the caloric (energy) content and nutritional composition of foods and preparing menus that are appropriate for the people who eat them. It is also an important job to check that food preparation is correctly executed. Dietitians, on the other hand, advise not only healthy people but also people who are ill or need special care on how to eat in a way that suits each individual's health condition. It requires a higher level of specialized knowledge than that of a dietician, and is more difficult to become certified. Facilities that serve more than 100 meals at a time, such as school lunch programs, are required to have a dietician, and facilities that serve more than 300 meals in a day are required to have one of their dietitians be a registered dietitian.

Qualifications are required to become a dietitian or nutritionist, but there are differences in how they are obtained. Nutritionist certification can be obtained by graduating from a university's domestic science department or a dietetic school (two-year or longer) that is recognized by the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare as a dietitian training facility, and applying to the respective prefectural government.

To become a Registered Dietitian, one must be a licensed dietitian. On top of that, one must pass a national examination. To take the exam, you must have graduated from a four-year dietitian training facility (domestic science department of a four-year university), or the sum of the number of years at a dietitian training facility (such as a vocational school) and the number of years of work experience as a dietitian after graduation is at least five years. The pass rate for the examination is about 64% in fiscal year 2021. If you want to become a registered dietitian from the beginning, it is recommended that you enroll in a four-year college or university that has a dietitian training program designated by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Today, "food and health" are closely examined in relation to lifestyle-related diseases, food allergies, eating disorders, and so on. Nutritionists and dietitians are finding a wide range of opportunities in schools, hospitals, welfare facilities, sports clubs, product development for food-related companies, and other areas of activity. In addition to employment at large facilities and companies, nutritionists and dietitians can also work as cookery researchers and food coordinators.

The type of workplace varies from public facilities such as hospitals and schools to private facilities such as company cafeterias, so it depends on the salary structure of the place of employment. At public facilities, treatment is similar to that of local government employees.

Large companies, schools, and public institutions seem to have a two day workweek to match their workplaces.

Hospitals are the most common. Other wide-ranging facilities include elementary and junior high schools, meal service centers, senior care facilities, nursery schools, public health centers, private company cafeterias, food companies, and sports clubs.

It's a chart that shows at a glance the main routes to getting a job as a nutritionist or dietitian!